They warned Americans of ‘real danger in this moment’.
By Jessica Glenza
Health Reporter
The Guardian
More than 1,900 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine signed an open letter warning Americans about the “danger” of the Trump administration’s attacks on science.
The letter comes amid the administration’s relentless assault on US scientific institutions which has included threats to private universities, federal grant cancelations and ideological funding reviews, mass government layoffs, resignations and censorship.
“We see real danger in this moment,” the letter states. “We hold diverse political beliefs, but we are united as researchers in wanting to protect independent scientific inquiry. We are sending this SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated.”
The National Academies of Sciences was established by an act of Congress in 1863, during Abraham Lincoln’s administration.
Today, the organization operates as a non-profit with two additional academies under its charter – the National Academies of Engineering and Medicine. The academies are seen as representing American scientific excellence, and together claim more than 6,800 peer-elected members between the three branches.
“The administration is slashing funding for scientific agencies, terminating grants to scientists, defunding their laboratories, and hampering international scientific collaboration,” the letter states.